The Duty of Dodger Part I
by Sheepdog1998
Summary: Tired of living a low income life, Dodger decides to enlist as an infantry soldier. That is, until his commanding officers begin talking about a surprise "mission" they are training for. As Dodger prepares for this surprise mission, he also finds a homeless little boy he decides to take home. As Dodger prepares for war, he has to be there for the gang and everybody he loves
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

1989

Just below the huge New York City lay a boat beneath a pier. Nothing too big, nothing too small. Just an averaged sized boat constructed of wood that lay silent in the night with a clothesline strung up outside and open windows to allow the air to blow in. It lay just as quiet inside where in different spots of the huge main room of the boat lay five canines in their beds made up of blankets and found scraps. In one corner lay one of the sleeping canines with a cheap alarm clock sitting right next to him which read the time: 4:29 AM.

The digit on the alarm switched to _4:30 AM._ It began to buzz as Dodger Herbie Tobacco slapped it off in time so it wouldn't awake the others. Dodger sat up, rubbing his eyes and stretching, realizing that his new day was about to begin.

Dodger was an almost all white if he did not have the brown on his back and head Jack Russell Terrier with quite a unique personality. Dodger then glanced around the boat, making sure that his clock hadn't awaken the others, but they all continued to rest in their calm and quiet slumbers. He pulled himself up out of bed, throwing his camouflage uniform on for work that day and walked over to a sink in the far corner of the room, twisting the nozzle as he splashed cool water onto his face. He threw his wallet into his gym bag, slinging it over his shoulder as he grabbed his keys from a nearby table as he walked outside, taking in the cool November air.

Dodger knew he only had a matter of time to arrive at the subway station so he could ride out of the city to get to work. He would often see his good friend Officer Argento in the subway station, mostly because Officer Argento worked the nightshift so Dodger would often catch him on his way back to his apartment.

While most of the city went to work in one of New York's high rises, Dodger's place of employment was Fort Dix, an Army base over in New Jersey.

Dodger attended Stuyvesant High School until he graduated his senior year. He had lived in an orphanage as a young pup, but as a child he often detested his time there due to the terrible conditions he and the other children were kept under and the sour attitude of the woman who ran the orphanage. Dodger has a very vague memory of his parents, the clearest memory he had of them and one of his siblings being from when he was four years old. He could remember his parents having a very depressed attitude when they realized that they just weren't capable of taking care of him anymore.

So, one day Dodger had to pack up all his items and he remembered being dropped off at _The New York City Residential Home for Children,_ and from then on he had to accept it as home.

Dodger wouldn't consider his days at the orphanage as truly terrible though. It was there that he met another dog named Tito, whom he became great friends with, both due to their common interest in guns and wrestling.

At the age of sixteen, Dodger decided that he just simply couldn't take the abuse of the orphanage anymore. So one night, when Dodger was positive that everybody was dead asleep, he convinced Tito to pack his bags and climb out one of the windows with him. It was on the street that Dodger and Tito were discovered by Fagin, and he took them in. Since they were young at the time, Fagin let them not worry about work or money, but as the two grew older, that began to hit Dodger as a priority.

At the time, Fagin two other dogs. They were Francis and Einstein, both older than Dodger and Tito. At the time, they all lived in an abandoned and beat up wooden boat, and Fagin had the long term goal of one day, when they had the money, saying goodbye to the boat and buying an apartment over in Brooklyn. Fagin eventually told them that they could continue to live with him, as long as they supplied money to keep their home up and going.

Tito went straight into the workforce and eventually collected enough money to buy a small building right across the street from which Dodger and the rest of his, "gang," lived.

Dodger attended Borough of Manhattan Community College for about a year, but suddenly felt that college just wasn't for him at the time. It wasn't until one day when Dodger was riding on the subway back home from the college that he found himself sitting next to an officer in the United States Army in his uniform. Dodger always had the military in the back of his mind incase his other plans didn't work out, and realized that if had an interest in pursuing it, now was the chance to ask questions about it.

He tapped the officer on the shoulder and asked him about his experience with the Army. The officer, Howard was his name and was the rank of Major, answered all of Dodger's questions. Dodger asked him questions such as why he decided that he wanted to pursue a career in the military, and Major Howard told him that his father was a full-bird Colonel in the Army and that he, along with his father, served in Vietnam as a young Second Lieutenant at the end of the war as his father was over there as a Lieutenant Colonel before being promoted to full bird when returning back home, and he chose to follow in his father's footsteps.

He told Dodger many of the benefits that an individual will get from serving in the military and the cool opportunities you will get to experience. Dodger asked what kind of cool opportunities there were, and Major Howard talked about getting the chance to go to Ranger School and getting to be in the 82nd Airborne Division. Major Howard told Dodger that he could tell by the way he was asking questions that he seemed to have an interest. He informed him that he was not a recruiter, but he had any interest in enlisting, he knew where to go. He handed him a brochure, and Dodger thought about the benefits and the opportunities he could get when serving in the military. Plus, Dodger had to face that he and the rest of the gang were poor.

Their boat wasn't big at all and they had to pray for just the small amounts of money that Fagin would bring in every week just to put a little bit of food on their table. Their phone had been shut off many times because they couldn't afford to pay the bills. Their most primary thing to get money for was food for dinner at nights.

So, the next day after his classes were finished, Dodger stopped by the recruiting office. The walls were lined with Uncle Sam, "I want you for US Army," posters as well as pictures lined up on the walls of the recruiters there deployed in different parts of the world. The recruiter wore his green dress uniform with the rank of Staff Sergeant ironed onto the sides of both his sleeves. The recruiter sat down behind his desk and talked to Dodger and explained to him about the ASVAB and how whatever score you get on it will determine what your specific job in the military based on your score. Dodger looked at the uniform that the recruiter was wearing and spotted how he had a light blue shoulder cord around one of his shoulders. "That blue cord around your shoulder," Dodger said. "What's that for?"

"Oh, that's because I served in the infantry," the recruiter responded. "I've heard about the infantry before," said Dodger. "This might sound like a dumb question, but what is it exactly?" "The infantry is all fighting on foot. If you do decide that you want to do infantry, you will get the chance to wear a cord on your uniform like me here." "I bet you shoot a lot in the infantry, don't you?" Dodger asked. The recruiter smiled and responded, "Oh yeah."

After that, Dodger enlisted, and the infantry was where he found himself. Weeks later, Dodger left for basic training at Fort Benning, and after basic training was over he got the chance to travel down to Fort Bragg, North Carolina for airborne training, and next thing he knew he was in the 82nd airborne division. He went to Ranger School a year later and the minute he turned twenty-one, he applied to go to training so he could be a member of Special Ops. Dodger didn't know how he did it, but when he went through special ops training he kept himself mentally strong and pushed through the hardships when a lot of other soldiers quit, and soon he was a special operations soldier.

Since he survived the hard training, he was able to keep on living where he was without having to move states to attend the other bases in other states because a lot of special operations soldiers were based out of Fort Dix. It turned out that Major Howard whom he met on the subway that one day became his commanding officer since he was both an infantry and a special ops soldier. Soon, Dodger found himself going to Fort Dix every day for work. Dodger's gang was originally not so pleased with that fact that Dodger just blankly enlisted, but soon they seemed pretty proud of him when they saw him in his uniform for the first time at his graduation from basic training.

Dodger walked down the steps leading into the New York City subway station. Even though it was very early in the morning, there always seemed to be people there waiting for a train. Dodger looked and sure enough, he spotted Officer Argento.

"Hey bud," said Dodger.

"Hey man."

"How was the nightshift?"

"Eh, it was alright. Nothing too exciting. Some of the boys though did a drug bust last night. You won't believe this, but one of the users busted actually told one of my guys that some of the drugs that he had had come all the way down from Panama."

"People really risk going from Panama just to make sure that some drugs get sold up here?"

"It makes a lot of money."

Dodger nodded and then heard the sound of one of the subway trains approaching. Half a minute later, the train moved in, the loud squeak sound of the train echoing throughout the small station. The doors opened as Dodger stepped inside. Dodger smiled, waving to Argento as the doors closed and the subway drove off.

Everyday always began with physical training, which was always pretty easy to Dodger since he exercised a lot and took care of himself. Afterwards Dodger's platoon would shower. Afterwards, they report to the mess hall for breakfast, or what the military refers to as, "chow." Dodger and every other soldier in First Platoon wore their Battle Dress Uniforms or what they refer to as BDUs. This uniform was the dark brown, green and black camouflage uniform.

Dodger got his tray and stepped up to the serving line as a cook behind the glass scooped up some pancakes, eggs and bacon and put it on his tray. Dodger grabbed some little packages of butter and filled his empty cup up with orange juice and sat down at a table in the mess hall with some buddies of his. Dodger cut a piece of a pancake and picked it up with a fork and began to chew on it. A private in Duke's platoon sat across from him and said, "I wonder if we are going to keep on doing house clearing today." Sergeant Smith, sitting next to Dodger, responded, "That and also airfield takedowns." Dodger and some of the other soldiers around him groaned because practicing to take down an airfield was something they trained for every day.

"Oh, won't you pansies stop complaining," Sergeant Smith said. "Don't you guys see what this means? This constant training, they might have something planned for us soon." Dodger noticed that some of the soldiers around him started giving Sergeant Smith a curious, wide-eyes stare as if expecting him to suddenly tell them something exciting that he might have been told.

"I mean, I don't know about anything like that, I really don't. I am just basing this off of former deployments of mine where we were required to train for specific missions without being told why, and then we deploy and we finally get to learn about what we have been training for for so long and actually do it." "Yeah," the private said. "But why do they pick specifically an airfield for our training?" "Didn't I just say that I have no clue?" Sergeant Smith barked.

Sergeant Smith was a soldier described as being, "tough as nails." He suffered from an abusive stepfather as a child and decided when he wanted to enlist when he was in high school. He claims that he hoped he would get the chance to protect people from terrible things like what he experienced as a child. But every soldier in Alpha Company, First Platoon knew that if you were going to be friends with Sergeant Smith, you could not have a soft and sensitive personality because he had a tough attitude, but every soldier knew that underneath it all he cared for everybody he served alongside with.

Jumping out of a plane. Something people pay tons of money for, this was in these soldiers' paychecks. Everyone knew their part of their training exercise. Dodger's duty was to seize the mock air-traffic control tower down below. Dodger had done this so many times though, he could do it in his sleep. Dodger looked to his left at his teammate Corporal Johnston.

Dodger took a deep breath to calm himself down, this being something he always had to do before a training jump. Today they were doing a static-line jump, a jump where you are attached to a steel cord above your head and when you jump out of the plane the cord you are attached to pulls your parachute out. Dodger and everybody else in the platoon also had a reserve chute on their stomach, but the military being how squared away it is, Dodger hadn't witnessed any accidents in any of his jumps. Major Howard stood at the front of the plane and then stood up and told everybody to hook up. Everybody obeyed and stood up, attaching their cords to the cable hanging above their heads. A jumpmaster stood next to the open door they would all jump out of. Before they could jump, Major Howard did a quick safety check and made sure everybody was strapped in right and then did an equipment check to make sure that everybody had everything they needed for the jump.

There was a little panel at the front on the wall with a round red and green light with the red bright right now signifying not to jump. Everybody had to help with the safety check with pertained every soldier tapping the soldier in front of them and yelling their number and yelling that they were okay. This began at the end of the plane and continued up to the front. There were twenty men in Dodger's platoon and he was right in the middle. The check began and in a few seconds the soldier behind Dodger tapped his shoulder, yelling, "Eleven okay!" Dodger tapped the soldier in front of him, yelling, "Ten okay!"

This eventually made its way up to the front and Major Howard was the first to jump out, followed by another soldier immediately. Dodger and the soldiers behind him had to run up to the front since the soldiers were rapidly leaping out, one right after another. Dodger was then up and he leaped out as the static line opened his parachute. He then looked down at the airfield 1,500 feet below him as he slowly descended towards it.

After the training assault, Colonel Miller, as he always did, told the platoon what he saw when observing them with the training exercise. Dodger seemed pretty impressed with what the Colonel had to say about their performance. The Colonel told them that there were a few things here and there that he felt they should try to improve on, but other than that every day they seemed to be looking better and better.

The platoon lowered the flag, and the day was over. Everybody got their things and began heading for their cars. Dodger saw Major Howard walking towards his car with his keys in his hand, so he ran up and caught up with him. "Excuse me sir," Dodger said. Major Howard looked over at Dodger as he opened his car door. "This morning at chow I was talking to Smith about all these things some old airfield training exercises and how we keep doing them repeatedly. Do you secretly think they are planning something for us?"

"Well, I only know as much as Smith and everybody else knows," Major Howard responded. "If I had to guess I would say maybe, but still, I haven't been told anything. I'll catch you tomorrow Tobacco," he said as he got in and started the car. "Actually Dodger, where you headed to?"

"Subway station," Dodger responded. "Eh, get in. I'll take you there," Major Howard responded.

Here Dodger was again, sitting on the subway just as he had done that morning. Dodger noticed that his days went by a lot quicker since he joined the service. Dodger put his gym bag around himself, stepped out of the train, and then walked up the steps leading up from the underground station. Dodger glanced around at lower Manhattan surrounding him. The two huge towers of the World Trade Center stood just right across the street from him, and to the right of him the following year a new fifty-six story hotel named, "The Millennium Hilton," would be built. A sign stood out there showing a model picture of the structure and said, " _Coming in 1990_."

And the Woolworth Building, the first skyscraper in New York City that was at the time the tallest not only in the city but the world as well until the construction of the Empire State Building in the 1930s stood close to him as well.

Dodger stopped by a small Chinese restaurant on a corner, remembering that he was supposed to buy everybody in the gang dinner tonight. "Thank you," he said as he opened his wallet, tossing a few dollars down on the glass counter. "You have a nice night," he said as he walked out, carrying two full plastic bags with him.

Dodger whistled a tune to himself as he walked down the sidewalk. For this time of the day, Dodger thought that the city sounded pretty quiet, but then heard a sound that sounded like it was coming a few feet away from him. Dodger couldn't make out what exactly the sound was at the moment. He glanced to his right to notice an alley next to where he parked. He heard the sound again. He believed it to be a whimper. Knowing he wasn't making the smartest decision in the world, he began walking down it.

As he walked down the quiet alley the sound he heard seemed to grow louder each time he took a step. Another quiet sound emerged, this time the sound sounded like somebody was moving around. Dodger slowly approached a small, abandoned building up ahead with a large dumpster behind it and peered around it.

A little boy sat up with his back against the building, eating soup out of a can with a spoon. The boy was dirty and smelled, wearing ragged, dirty clothes, obviously homeless. Dodger could see that the boy's teeth were yellow and his fingernails were dirty and unkempt. He had a winter hat on top of his head, filled with holes.

"Little boy," Dodger calmly said. The boy looked up at him, obviously nervous. "Woah kid, it's alright," Dodger automatically responded.

"Who are you?" the homeless boy asked. "I can ask the same for you," Dodger responded. "But since you asked, everybody's got a name, and mine happens to be Dodger. What about you?"

"Me?" the boy asked shyly. "Yeah," Dodger responded. "Timmy," the little boy quietly said. "Timmy huh," said Dodger. "What?!" Timmy said defensively. "Oh nothing, I like that name. I'm just curious where your parents are at Timmy."

"My parents?" Timmy asked. "You sure do ask a lot of questions kid," said Dodger. "But yeah, your parents. Momma, papa, madre, padre, mom, dad, maman, papa…" "Madre and padre?" Timmy asked.

"Mom and dad in Spanish."

"What about maman and papa?"

"French. Well, whatever you call your parents, where they at kid?"

Timmy looked down at the ground with a saddened expression on his face. "I don't have a mom and dad." "Oh…" Dodger said, feeling awkward and not knowing what to say next. "Well, how long have you been living out here for?" "A couple of weeks," Timmy responded. "A couple of weeks?!" Dodger snapped. "Yeah," Timmy said quietly.

Dodger stood quietly, letting that soak into his brain for a minute. They both sat in silence for a few minutes until Timmy looked at the uniform Dodger was wearing and asked, "Are you in the Army or something?" "Yep, 82nd Airborne," Dodger responded. Dodger figured Timmy probably wanted to begin asking him questions about the military now, but that wasn't what he could focus on. He knew he couldn't leave an orphaned boy on the streets of New York City like this, especially in an alleyway. _We're poor though_ , Dodger thought. _I'm the one with the best paycheck and I still have a hard time paying the bills._

Dodger knew that he couldn't just leave Timmy out here alone any longer. "Are Army guys nice?" Timmy asked. "Eh… the guys like me are. Some guys don't have a problem with it, some do. But, that's everywhere you go in life." Dodger paused. "Here," he said while motioning with his paw for Timmy to follow him.

"So, this is where you live?" Timmy asked as he and Dodger walked down a staircase into the main room on the boat where everybody had been sleeping that morning. "Yep," Dodger said. "We're all like one big happy family. We're a group. There's a girl who lives here with me named Rita.

She and I have known each other since grade school, and I met Tito who lives across the street while living in an orphanage. The three of us were good friends in high school. We used to climb up on the roof and school together, go to movies, pull pranks."

"How did you guys get on the roof of your school?" Timmy asked. "There was a ladder. It wasn't that hard," Dodger responded. "Hey wait," Timmy said nervously. "Your friends… they're nice right?"

Dodger smiled. "Oh yeah. Definitely," he said. And they walked down into the main room, the smell of cigar smoke hit the two like a bullet. Fagin, Einstein and Francis all sat at the kitchen table, lit cigars hanging from their mouths with beers at their sides as Rita and Tito stood talking.

They all looked over at him, all happy to see Dodger but then the same level of confusion filled all of their faces when they noticed Timmy with him. "Timmy, I'd like you to meet everybody," Dodger said.

Dodger's friends were:

Francis, a very light brown bulldog who spoke with a British accent. Francis was somebody who always preferred to be called by his real name and despised nicknames. He had a burning love for theatre and art. Dodger had caught him in the past mimicking lines from lines and TV shows he was watching.

Tito, a very, very small Chihuahua with a very hyper personality. He always had a green bandana tied around his head and his left ear had a chunk missing, but nobody really wanted to know the explanation behind it.

Einstein, a very far from intelligent dog, this being funny how this was even his name. He is a very kind and friendly character. He had light gray fur and was a big breed, actually being the biggest member in the group.

Rita, the only female in the group. She was a brown saluki and wore blue eye shadow around her eyes. Dodger met her while they had been in elementary school and she had joined the gang later on in life. She had dark brown hair with two long side bangs.

And Fagin, the only human in the group. Fagin had been described in the past as a, "petty criminal." He wasn't a bad guy at heart, and he loved the gang beyond limits. Fagin would often maybe even have to commit small crimes to help get money to support the gang. He at times would be so desperate for money, he could be seen taking worthless junk to pawnshops in hopes of trading some of it for cash.

"Well," Dodger said, getting everybody's attention. "Look who I found. This is Timmy, he's an orphan I found living in the street. When I found him, I thought, _"Well, he needs a family to live with, and we're just like a family, so why not_?" Timmy slowly waved to them all and shyly said, "Hi." "Hi," everybody said, slowly retuning waves. Dodger put his hand on Timmy's shoulder. "Yep Timmy, I'd like you to meet everyone."

Duke pointed to everyone. "Yeah Timmy, this is Tito, Einstein, Francis, Rita and Fagin." Timmy smiled. "How long can I stay with you guys for?" he asked. "Hey kid, as long as you need to. Don't worry about that. Alright?" "Alright," Timmy responded.

Hours passed. Fagin showed Timmy around the house and they allowed him to shower for the first time in a long time and provided him some clean clothes. They even mad a bed for him in the corner of the boat close to Dodger's bed. The clock that lay next to Dodger's bed read 9:45 PM. Timmy had crawled into his bed while everybody else left for their houses. Rita went over to go tuck Timmy into bed and hopefully comfort him, knowing that this was probably weird for him since he was spending the night in an unfamiliar place.

Rita sat down next to him and began to run her hand through his hair. He smiled up at her. "I sure am glad Dodger found me." Rita smiled and said, "I am glad that he found you too." Rita kissed him on the forehead and stood up to walk away when he said, "Wait, will you say a bedtime prayer with me please?" She turned around and responded, "Sure."

She walked back over to him and sat down next to him. "Do you believe in God?" he asked. "Always have," she responded. "My aunt Jessica used to say bed-time prayers with me all the time when I lived with her." This sounded pretty shocking which made Rita automatically want to ask, " _Well, why don't you anymore?"_ But, instead she said, "Really?"

"Oh yes Ms. Rita. Every night she would come upstairs and put her hand on my head and pray with me. My uncle Jason never did though. I pray for him a lot. My aunt Jessica would tell me that he was addicted to beer. I would lay in bed at night and listen to him scream at my aunt Jessica downstairs, and would sometimes even hear smashing from down in the kitchen."

 _Oh my gosh,_ Rita thought. "Where were your mommy and daddy when all of this was happening?" "I never met my daddy. He was in the Army just like Dodger is, and he would be gone a lot. My aunt Jessica told me one day that he apparently packed up his bags, told my mommy when she was pregnant with me that he never wanted to see her again, and then left. Didn't even bother to say goodbye."

"What about your mom?" Rita asked, nervous over what he would say. "I don't know where she went. She apparently gave birth to me and then apparently gave me to my aunt Jessica and then took off. No one has seen her since." Timmy looked and saw Dodger walking up the staircase holding a cigar and a lighter. "Where is Dodger going?" he asked Rita. "Oh, just up to the dock for a few minutes for what he calls his, 'alone time,'" Rita responded. After hearing that, Timmy got back to his story.

"Yeah, eventually I ran away from my aunt Jessica's apartment. She one day fell on the floor complaining that her head hurt and told me to call 911. Hospital people came and took her to the hospital. She had to go live in one of those special homes after the incident, so I was stuck living with my uncle Jason. He called me stupid one night and then hit me. He then drank a lot of beer and fell asleep on the couch. So I went and simply ran out the door and never went back. Sometimes at night I even have nightmares of him finding me in the city."

"Well, you have nothing to fear here and just remember that we all care about you," Rita said. He smiled. "Here," she said. "Let's pray." She took his hand in her paw as they both bowed their heads and closed their eyes. "Do you want to go?" Timmy asked. "Sure," Rita said.

"Dear God, as little Timmy here goes to sleep tonight I pray that you will stand guard over him and protect him and keep him safe. God thank you for bringing him to us and God I pray for blessings for him in the future. We love you Father, amen." He sat up and wrapped his arms around her. "Good night Ms. Rita," he said. She hugged him back. "Goodnight Timmy," she said. She kissed him again on the forehead, smiled and said, "Goodnight."

Dodger sat in his fold out chair on the roof, holding the burning cigar in his hand as he exhaled smoke out of his mouth as he gazed at the Twin Towers towering over lower Manhattan and all the smaller buildings surrounding them. Rita climbed out of the rooftop access hatch and walked over, sitting down in a chair next to him. "Dodger, we need to talk," she said. "But Rita," he said as he put the cigar back in his mouth and then pulled it out and blew out smoke. "It's happy hour." Dodger then leaned back against a wooden pole as Rita snatched it away from him and threw it. Dodger saw it splash in the river. He sat straight up.

"Hey!" he said. "The heck was that for?"

"Listen Dodger, you will not believe what Timmy just told me!"

"Was it really that important that you felt the need to interrupt me in the middle of happy…"

"Yes Dodger, and don't start with that again. Timmy, I… It sounds like he was abused by an alcoholic." "What?!" Dodger said. "What makes you think that?" "Well, he asked me to say a bedtime prayer with him and then tells me about his aunt Jessica and how she used to pray with him every night before bed but his uncle who he described as being, 'addicted to beer,' never would and how he could hear crashing coming from downstairs. His aunt Jessica ended up having a stroke resulting in her going away and him having to live with his abusive uncle and he ended up hitting him, so he ran away from there. He even said that he has nightmares of this crazed uncle finding him here in the city."

"Oh geez," Dodger blurted as he then walked over to the end of the dock and sat down, legs dangling off the side as he looked down at the water below him. Rita walked over and sat next to him. "Can I be honest with you about something Dodger?" she asked. Dodger nodded, not saying a word. "I just worry about how we will be able to take care of him. I mean, look at us. We are barely able to take care of ourselves, much less a child. Do we even have what it takes to raise a little boy, to make him into a good man?"

Dodger continued to stare down at the sidewalk below him. "I don't know Rita, I really don't." He then looked up at her. "I mean… I practically raised myself, and I guess I turned out alright." Dodger paused and took a breath. "Yeah well," he said. "You never know. Maybe we will find some rich family who might adopt Timmy."

"I can care less about them being rich," Rita said. "If we can find  
Timmy a family, I want them to be good, Christian people." "Yeah, you're right," Dodger said as he looked back down at the ground below.

They both sat in silence for a minute. Dodger then broke the silence. "Do you ever think past now?" he asked. Rita looked over at him. "You know, like who you'll fall in love with, becoming a parent, other things you might do in this world? I mean, I joined the military because of that feeling. I would often just lay there at night, thinking and thinking of my future, and I was disappointed in what I was able to imagine myself doing.

Just walking around the city, unemployed, doing whatever I could just to make a few dollars, hoping and praying that Fagin would return with money so we could eat. I… I just felt so useless…"

Dodger then shot his head to the left and looked at Rita, and then, something happened. He stared into her eyes, and not like any normal making eye contact with somebody, this was different. He stared deep into her eyes, and she stared deep into his. Then, this love for each other that they didn't think they had that strongly for each other this way just seemed to grow. The whole group loved each other as a family, but this love was intense.

At the perfect moment, they both leaned towards each other and gently pressed their lips together. Dodger wrapped his arms around her and held her as they kissed. They both realized something during this private moment: they loved each other. And this wasn't any type of crush, this was pure love. After a few seconds, their lips moved away.

Dodger stared at her in the moonlight for a minute, thinking she was the most beautiful thing in the world. He knew that he purely loved her. She stared at him, thinking he was the most handsome guy she ever laid her eyes on, and she knew that she loved him. They sat there speechless, trying to realize the fact that they had just kissed each other.

"Ummm…" Dodger began. "You know it is pretty late, and I have to be at the base pretty early in the morning." "Yeah, I understand," Rita responded. "Well um… I guess I will see you tomorrow," said Dodger. "I'll see you tomorrow as well," Rita responded. They both then silently, without a word, climbed back down into the boat together, leaving the dock quiet and empty as it had originally been.


	2. Chapter 2

While everyone in the gang lay sleeping in their beds at the boat, Dodger was over at Fort Dix running with his platoon. Early morning PT. It stunk having to get to the base so early for it, but it helped Dodger wake up. Dodger was wearing the Army PT uniform: tennis shoes, black shorts, a grey T-shirt with the words, "Army," imprinted across the center. Since it was November, they all wore a grey slick jacket over it with a lime green PT belt across their waist. After this, everybody would get showered up, eat chow, and get ready to begin their day as a soldier in the United States Army.

Everybody ran in formation with Major Howard running alongside the column formation, singing the cadences. "Momma momma don't you cry," he sang. "Momma momma don't you cry," the platoon repeated.

"Your little boy's jumping from the sky."

"Your little boy's jumping form the sky."

Major Howard suddenly stopped the formation, ordered a left face, and then put them at ease.

"Alright, what was that?!" Major Howard hollered. The platoon looked around, wondering what he was talking about. "Look gentlemen, I know its morning time, but still, you all sound terrible. Come on men, this is Alpha Company! You are all paratroopers! We're spec ops, we make the enemy scream by even the sight of us. I want Bravo and Charlie company to listen to us and feel intimidated from how we sound. Can we do that?!"

"Hooah!" the platoon yelled. "Alright then, let's try this again. Right… face." The whole platoon did a right face. Major Howard ordered them to begin running. "Left, left, left right left," he said, making sure their feet were hitting the ground at the correct command. "C130 rolling down the strip!" Major Howard sang.

"C130 ROLLING DOWN THE STRIP," the platoon practically yelled, sounding off louder than Major Howard.

Up the road, two soldiers from Bravo Company were walking into base and heard the company. They both looked and saw the platoon running. "Is that Alpha?" one of them asked. "Yep," the other responded. "I know all those guys are in the Airborne." "Yeah, well they will see what we are made of later today," he said.

Dodger stepped out of the shower, dripping wet as he grabbed his towel and dried himself off. He walked over to his locker and turned in his code into the padlock. "Man, all this training we're doing," Sergeant First Class Dustin Shane said. "This could mean we get a mission soon."

"I wouldn't put too much hope into it," Master Sergeant Corn said. "We're just doing what we always train for."

"Actually, I could disagree with that," the First Sergeant said. "Before we got deployed, they made me and my guys train and train for certain things and we had no clue what we were training for." "Well, I know that the Command Sergeant Major has deployed countless times. He can tell us," Dustine said. "I mean, he was in Vietnam for crying out loud."

The First Sergeant shrugged. "I was in Vietnam. You saying that I couldn't tell you anything about deployment?" "No… I take it back…" The First Sergeant laughed. "I'm just screwing with you." He took his sweaty army t-shirt off. "Don't take it so seriously," he said as he threw it as Dustine. Dustine accidently caught it and quickly threw it back.

"Really First Sergeant? I just got out of the shower!"

"Ah, suck it up. You're about to get dirty again anyways…"

Heslin suddenly walked in, dressed in his battle dress uniform and yelled, "Everybody listen up!" All the joking and laughing stopped. "Major Howard wants us in formation in ten minutes." He stepped out as everybody went back along their way. Dodger giggled to himself, finding it difficult to take Heslin seriously.

The platoon stood in formation, everybody dressed in their battle dress uniforms. The Command Sergeant Major stood at the front of the formation, and once he saw Major Howard approaching called the company to attention. Major Howard walked up, smiling and said, "at ease."

"Alright," he announced. "I have some good news. Today we will not be doing an airport takeover. Instead, the Colonel had something else in store. As we all know, I love to win, and I know you all love to win. I think you all are a very good platoon, if not the best every platoon to ever exist in the United States Army. So today, the Colonel wants us to go up against Bravo Company.

"We will use our average weapons, except for what we have almost all seen, the weapons will have an orange tip, and we will all be wearing vests. If you are shot, your vest will make a sound. And trust me when I say this, I do not want to hear any vest sounds today. Any questions?"

"Excuse me sir," Private Jack yelled. "Is it true that the Colonel is thinking about promoting you?" "Yes, I have been told that but they haven't given me any confirmation on it yet," Major Howard responded. "If we do well like I know we will do today, you maggots might be calling me Lieutenant Howard soon." "Dang, how many times did you have to sleep with the Colonel to get that?" Corporal Jones said. The platoon burst out laughing.

"Alright, very funny," Major Howard said. "But seriously ladies, this is going to be just like what we train for every day. We practice actually taking over a hostile target so much, now it is time to practice engaging against live enemies."

Dodger put his Kevlar helmet on his head and tightened the chinstrap. He then threw his great big bullet-proof vest on with censors inside so when he was shot the vest would sound. He had his M-16 rifle with the orange tip at the end of the barrel slung over his shoulder. "You know, when my daughter brings her first boyfriend home," Johnston said, picking up his rifle and slinging it across him. "I know what I'm showing up at the door with." Dodger laughed. "You just keep telling yourself that," he said.

"What about you Dodger?" Johnston asked. "I know you're young now, but age does come quickly. You ever want to have a daughter? Or a son?" "I mean, it is something I have always certainly thought about," Dodger responded. "But I just don't think I am ready for that yet. I feel like there are things about myself I need to fix first before I raise a child." "I can respect that," Johnston repeated. Dodger and Johnston then walked outside to discuss the plan for the training exercise with Major Howard.

Major Howard laid a map across a table. "So, Bravo Company is going to come marching up this road." Major Howard then circled the dirt road in the map with a pencil. "They want to take the top of this hill, but we're not going to let them. We are going to execute a deliberate, organized and planned ambush." "What kind of ambush were you thinking sir?" the First Sergeant asked.

"Well, this is going to be the first time I would have ever used this type of method, but I was thinking of a triangle type." He pointed his pencil to the road Bravo Company would come marching up. On each side of the road were wooded areas and then ahead the road had a sharp right turn and in front of the sharp turn was another wooded area. "Where is Sergeant Stewart at?" Major Howard asked.

"Right here sir."

"Stewart, you're a good shot."

Major Howard circled the area of the woods to the left of the trail. "I am going to position you here." "Hooah sir," Sergeant Stewart responded.

Sergeant Stewart was indeed a good shooter. His father was a Marine sniper while deployed in Vietnam. As a teenager, Stewart was always asked by friends to go shooting with them at their houses or to go hunting with them. But Stewart's father, knowing their lack of firearms safety and skill, never permitted him to do so. He often told Stewart that if he was going to learn to shoot, then he would be taught the responsible way. Because of his father's training, Stewart became a safe and responsible shooter, and even entered marksmanship competitions, blowing people's minds over his amazing ability.

"Corporal Lucan," Major Howard said. "Here sir," Lucan responded. Major Howard drew a circle to the right of the road. "Lucan, I want you to take this position here." "Hooah sir," said Lucan. "Now the rest of us are going to be spread out in this area," Howard said as he circled the wooded area right in front of where the road curves.

"For Stewart and Lucan, I will communicate with you both over radio. You both are going to be the snipers for this training exercise. Over the radio, I will watch out for the upcoming platoon, and I will tell you both when to fire." "Hooah," they both said. "Alright then," Major Howard announced. "Let's move."

Dodger carried his rifle while walking through the quiet woods. The only sound was the pretty sound of the birds chirping and singing, then the boring and interrupting sound of the boots on the soldiers' feet crunching the ground below them. Dodger looked to his left to see the First Sergeant walking beside him. "Was Vietnam like this at all?" Dodger asked. "Eh, it was different wooded terrain, only here we don't have boobytraps that you might step on."

Dodger stopped and looked at the medium sized hill standing before them. "This is the mountain Major Howard was talking about?" he asked. "Looks like it," the First Sergeant said as he began to march up it. Dodger then began his hike up the hill. The hill couldn't have been more than seventy feet. Dodger was almost to the top when he noticed Major Howard standing up there. Major Howard held binoculars up to his eyes, observing the ground below them.

Dodger was able to see a great aerial view of the road below them and he could see the wooded areas in the side almost perfectly. Private Noch wore a radio on his back. Major Howard grabbed the microphone and spoke into it. "Private Stewart, are you in position?" Major Howard asked. "Yes sir," Dodger heard him respond. The road with the wooded areas on each side looked to be at least two hundred feet away.

"Can you give some sort of signal that way I can see you?" Major Howard asked. "Here, I'll wave." Major Howard looked. "Okay, I see you."

Two hours passed. The rest of the platoon had spread out all over the hill. Dodger must have dozed off because he found himself going into a dream state when he felt the First Sergeant shake him awake. "Dodger wake up." "Huh?" he moaned as he opened his eyes. "They're coming."

Dodger looked closely on the road and sure enough, Bravo Company came marching along down it.

Dodger thought it was pretty cool how the weapon worked. The weapon was loaded with dummy roads with gunpowder that would still explode and the weapon did still have recoil, only instead of a bullet flying out of the barrel a laser shot out.

Dodger picked the rifle up, aiming it at the formation. He closed one eye, staring straight through the sight system, and switched the safety off with his thumb.

The company looked to be marching on formation down the road, but were mostly spread out a bit. Many soldiers every few seconds would raise their rifles and scan the perimeter while walking. A captain stood at the front of the platoon, looking around the area for anything suspicious. "Stewart," Major Howard whispered into the radio. "I want you to take out the captain." "Hooah," Steward responded.

"Lucan, I want you to take out the platoon leader. After that, fire at the closest soldier." "Hooah," Lucan responded. Duke felt his heartrate soar, adrenaline pumping through his veins as he knew at any second he would have to pull the trigger. Finally, Major Howard ordered, "fire."

At the exact same time, the two snipers fired. At Fort Dix, you were ordered to raise up your right hand if you were shot and then proceed to walk off the battlefield. Dodger watched as the captain's face below suddenly switched from bored to shocked as his vest began to sound. The same happened to the platoon leader.

Suddenly, the platoon below quickly spread out, taking cover behind trees or anything else they could find. The rest of Dodger's platoon proceeded to begin firing. Dodger picked off a squad leader below. One soldier below got flat down on the ground, firing up at the hill. Dodger took a deep breath, calmed himself down, and fired. Sure enough, the soldier's vest sounded as he got up and walked off the battlefield.

Gunfire was sounding from all around Dodger. Eventually, some of the soldiers in Bravo company realized where their incoming shots had been fired from as they began firing towards the top of the hill. Master Sergeant Corn, probably not even twenty feet from Dodger, vest began to sound. He held up his right arm and walked down the field.

Dodger looked and noticed that some soldiers must have changed positions without being caught and were beginning to move up the hill. "I'm going down, cover me!" Dodger yelled to the First Sergeant. Dodger aimed his rifle down the hill and began to run down it. He ran right by Dustine. "They're coming up. I'm going to stop them," Dodger said.

Dustine nodded as he got up, following Dodger. They both got behind two of the biggest trees they could spot. Dodger glanced and noticed Dustine was behind a tree that appeared to be about ten feet away from him.

Seconds later, soldiers from Bravo company came storming towards them. Dodger switched his rifle back to semi-automatic, dropping the magazine as he grabbed a new one, slapping it into the rifle as he hit the slide release. Dodger glanced over at Dustine who then gave him thumbs up. Dodger and Dustine then came out from behind the trees, unloading as many rounds as they could into the opposing team.

Three soldiers from Bravo stood about twenty feet away from them. Dodger shot one of them twice and would have taken out another, but Dustine had already shot Dodger's next target. The soldiers gave Dodger and Dustine dreaded looks as they then proceeded to walk off the field.

Major Howard was impressed with how the ambush had gone. "We would have probably taken all those maggots out hadn't a few of them retreated," Major Howard told the platoon. "I'm impressed though. A platoon going against a company and we win. Hell, I don't know why I don't go out now and buy a beer for each of you grunts."

Major Howard glanced down at his watch. "Alright, we have about ten minutes until I dismiss you all. Before we all go home, I just have a few last words. Pretty good day, hooah?" "HOOAH!" the platoon screamed. Major Howard laughed.

"Now that, that is what I like to hear. So listen." He cleared his throat. "Listen guys, I hear what is going around. I know that you guys are excited, thinking we might get a deployment soon because of all this advanced training, but just know that I don't know any more than you all do. They might have something planned for us, they might not.

But anyways guys, it's Friday. Go home, chill out, and try to not think too much about all this. Hooah?" "Hooah!" the platoon responded.

"Hello gang," Dodger called as he stepped into the boat. "Hey Dodger," they all called out. Dodger walked down the stairs into the main area of the boat. "So Dodger," Timmy asked. "How was your day in the Army?" "Oh, fantastic kid. You should have seen. So, my team went up against another team in a pretend shootout." Dodger, knowing he meant platoon up against company, knew that Timmy wouldn't understand the military terms used, so he just used team to keep it simple for Timmy to understand.

"Oh hey Dodger, Fagin might get a job soon," Timmy said. Those words grabbed Dodger's attention. "Really?" he asked in an excited tone. "Well, he applied and the boss said he would like to interview him," Rita said. "Really? As what?" Dodger asked.

"A window washer," said Rita. "Oh man, whoooo," Dodger said. "I could never do that job, no way. Don't like heights." "Dodger," Tito said. "You have jumped out of planes over a hundred times and yet you say you don't like heights?" "Hey, farther away from the ground I am, the cooler I feel. That way it makes it harder to see the ground."

Rita laughed. "What?!" Dodger asked, smiling. "That's just funny," she said. "That's like someone who goes deep sea fishing being afraid to go fish in a small pond." "Don't laugh at me," Dodger responded.

"Every time I go to the top of the Empire State building and I look down, I feel like I am about to explode. Oh, speaking of the Empire State Building, have you guys eaten dinner yet?" "No, why?" Timmy asked. "Because right underneath the Empire State building is this really good pizza place I would love to take you guys to."

"But Dodger," Rita said. "What about the money?" "Ah, don't worry about money," Dodger said as he pulled a hundred-dollar bill from his wallet. "It's all on me," he said. "Where did you get that?" Rita asked.

"The Army pays well. Cashed in a little of my paycheck today before getting home. You all up for it?" Everybody looked around, nodding in agreement and smiling. Everybody suddenly sprang up and ran up the stairs while Dodger and Rita remained at the bottom. Once everybody had left the boat, Dodger and Rita followed behind them up the stairs.

"Here we are," Dodger said, licking his lips. "Little Italy Pizza." Dodger held the glass door open as they all walked inside. Rita was the last to follow the gang. She paused, looking over at Dodger and smiling as she walked in, followed by Dodger.

"Wow," Dodger said as he glanced around the small restaurant. "What?" she asked. "I just would have thought that it would have been busier." Dodger shrugged. "Apparently I was wrong."

The gang waited in the small line to pick out what slices of pizza they wanted as Dodger grabbed and reserved a table for them. Tito walked up, laughing as he set down a plate with two slices of pepperoni and cheese pizza and an empty cup for a drink he would grab from a soda machine in the store. "Look at this man!" he said. Dodger laughed.

After Tito sat down, Dodger got up, grabbing pizza slices for himself and filled his cup with Coco-Cola from the machine. He sat down next to Fagin and sat across from Rita and Tito. Timmy sat down next to Dodger, thanking him at least one thousand times. Dodger figured that with Timmy being homeless not even a week ago, he had probably been starving.

The gang seemed to enjoy it for the time being. It hadn't necessarily been the food that made it exciting, but the experience of going out and getting to spend money on things, something the gang never got to do. Everybody sure did thank Dodger for that. "Oh, don't worry too much about it. Hey, you guys ever want to do this every night, or even go places, buy stuff, I'll hook us up," he said. "Hey Dodger, maybe you should be careful about how you spend your money," Tito said. "Nah, are you kidding? The Army pays," said Dodger.

"Plus, Fagin getting this job, maybe we can abandon our boat and go live in an apartment right in the middle of the city." "Dodger," said Rita. "I hate to break it to you, but you do know that some of those apartments in the city are very expensive." "Yeah, so what?" Dodger responded in a cocky tone.

"So what?!" Rita said. "Dodger, we're not made of money! Even with your salary and Fagin's salary, that being if he even gets the job, those two combined wouldn't be enough to equal the cost of some apartments in the middle of the city."

"Rita, don't worry your pretty little head over something that the working dog here has under control." Rita growled at him. "What?" Dodger asked. "Alright Dodger, you are starting to press all of our buttons," said Tito. "Why?" Dodger asked in a confused tone. "Dodger, you are getting a really fun night and starting to spoil it," Rita said.

"Man," Dodger said. "You know I have witnessed emotional people in my life, but so far you all are the worst…" "THAT'S IT!" Francis said. "Dodger, me and you, outside. NOW!" "But Francis…" Dodger said. "NOW DODGER!" Francis demanded. Dodger got up from his seat and followed Francis outside.

"So, what do you want to talk to me about…?" "Shut up!" Francis barked. "Dodger…" He began to breath heavily but paused and began taking deep breaths to help calm him down. "Dodger, do you have a filter?" he asked. "Well, yeah of course. Sometimes when I feel mad I take a few deep breaths to prevent bad things from coming out of my mouth…"

"Not that! I cannot believe what I just heard you say to Rita!" Francis barked. "What, the pretty little head thing? I mean, I would take that as a compliment if anything," Dodger responded. "How?!" Francis asked.

"Pretty little head, it could be a way of letting her know she is pretty." "No Dodger, what you said pretty much means telling a girl to butt out," Francis said. Dodger took a deep breath, letting that absorb through his brain.

"Okay, I'm sorry," he said. "Say that to her," Francis responded. "That was the first thing bugging me in there. Number two, your cockiness." "What are you talking about? I'm not cocky," Dodger said.

"Dodger, if you could have only heard your voice and tone in there. Dodger, I want you to answer this honestly. Okay?" "Okay," Dodger said.

"Do you feel that ever since you joined the military that you have basically solved all of our problems?" Francis asked. Dodger sighed. "Yeah," he whimpered. "Are you simply just proud of yourself for that?" Dodger looked down at the ground and mumbled, "yes."

"Are you trying to get everybody in the gang to feel proud of you?" Francis asked. Dodger stared, wondering how he should answer that. Eventually, he looked back up at Francis and responded, "yes." "Well then," Francis said. "Let's go tell everybody."

They turned around and walked back into the pizzeria. They walked back to the table as Francis announced, "Dodger has something he has to tell all of you." Dodger sat back down in his chair. He took a deep breath. "Everybody," he began.

"You know that I love and care about you all and I would like to apologize for my actions a few moments ago." Dodger took a sip of his drink.

"I know that we have never really had much money, so when I found myself making money and being able to support all of us, I suddenly felt very proud of myself. It made me happy to see you all react happily when I was able to bring food to the table easily, and soon I felt so proud of myself that I found myself wanting you all to be proud of me as well. With my cockiness, I think it was simply that I felt at the top, I felt like nothing could bring me down and I wanted it to stay that way. Little do I know what could happen tomorrow, and I might lose my job. So, I am sorry for my behavior and it would mean a lot to me if you all could please forgive me."

Dodger glanced over at Rita. "And Rita, I would like to apologize for my comment towards you. I realize just how inappropriate it was and I really hope that in your heart you will find forgiveness towards me."

Rita stared at him for a moment and then mumbled, "I do Dodger. I love you." "I love you too man," Tito whimpered. Francis tapped Dodger's shoulder and said, "we all love you man." "None of us are perfect man," Tito said.

Dodger felt blessed to have a group like that who cared about him to that extent and would always be willing to forgive him. He smirked. "Thanks guys," he said.

They all took the subway back home. Dodger sat back, leaning his head against the glass window behind him as the train sped down the tunnel towards lower Manhattan. The train slowed as they all gathered out and walked up the small staircase leading up to the street above. Dodger stepped up onto the sidewalk, looking at the construction site for the Millennium Hilton as the towers of the World Trade Center stood right across the street. They began walking down the sidewalk as they made their way back down to the docks.

They arrived back minutes later. Everybody began getting ready for bed. Rita walked over to tuck Timmy into bed as he did the previous night and saw Dodger heading back up the wooden stairs to the dock, holding a cigar and a lighter. She tucked Timmy in and prayed with him, and waiting a couple of minutes to make sure he was asleep, she followed up to the docks after him. Dodger sat at the end of the dock and blew smoke out of his mouth. Dodger heard her get up on the dock as he glanced behind him.

"Quick year, huh?" Dodger asked. "I mean, it is going to be December in a couple of days. It feels like it was just yesterday when we took little Oliver in, and that was over a year ago." He flipped a cigar lighter out with the 101st Airborne Division Screaming Eagles' logo imprinted on the side as he pulled the cigar out of his mouth, dangling it over the flame to relight it.

"Hey Dodge, this cockiness of yours, you need to cut it out! Trust me, this wasn't the first time I have seen you act like that." Dodger pressed his cigar against the wood below him. As much as he loved smoking it, and the flavor changing since he just relit it, he remembered that Rita didn't enjoy being around him when he smoked, so he was doing it out of respect for her. "Alright Rita, I need to talk to you about something." "Alright," she said. "Can you sit down?" he asked.

Since he asked nicely, she did. "Rita, please don't be mad anymore about what happened tonight. But, that's not what I was going to talk to you about." Rita didn't look angry and was giving Dodger her full attention. "It's okay, I'm listening," she said.

"You'll see how this will tie in with what happened tonight. You see, there has been a lot of talk at work about us maybe getting a deployment soon, but I can't promise because we may, we may not. Not even the officers know. Thing is that, I am kind of excited but a little nervous because I have never been deployed before, so of course I worry about the thought of if I am killed in action, so I wanted you all to be proud of the little things I did for this group in case of the event that happens." Dodger raised the cigar to his mouth again, holding it to his lips before blowing out smoke.

"Well, what about the cockiness?" she asked. Dodger blew smoke from his mouth.

"I don't know," he said, shrugging. "I guess I just got so used to the thought that you guys should have already been proud of me for bringing money home that I just let that simply take control of my character."

"Dodger," Rita said. "We were happy that you went out and got in the military and were able to bring money home so we could get food and survive, yes. Thing is that even if you didn't, we wouldn't have cared about you any less. We care and are proud of you because you are you Dodger. You are a unique individual and we all love and cherish you."

She giggled. "You know, the first time I ever saw you in your dress blue uniform. Man honey, you would have never believed how proud I was of you at that moment."

"Wow," Dodger said. "Thanks."

She smiled. "But Rita," he said. "Just know that if I ever get deployed and if in the worst circumstance I do get killed, I've got life insurance. You guys will keep getting money…" "Dodger," Rita interrupted. "You are one of a kind. Money will never replace you."

He smiled. "Thank you Rita," he said. "And if I do die, promise me the gang will keep going."

"It wouldn't be the same without you though," she said.

Dodger smirked as he and Rita walked up, hugging each other. He stood there, hugging her for who knows how long. He looked out at the city behind them, the lights on in the windows of every building, the sound of the honking of cars capable of being heard from where he stood. "Come on, let's head back inside. It's chilly out here," Dodger said.

"COME ON LET'S GO!" Major Howard screamed. Dodger glanced down at the ground, finding himself dressed in his battle dress uniform with his Kevlar vest over his chest, black boots on, helmet on his head with his M16 rifle cradled in his arms. He looked straight ahead at the Brooklyn Bridge leading into the city, the skyline of lower Manhattan standing behind it.

Dodger glanced up. The sky was blood red as thick, black smoke arose from areas withinin the city. "LOOK OUT!" one of the men in his company screamed. Dodger quickly squatted down as a missle soured above him, making a large whistle sound as it struck the top of the Woolworth Building that stood infront of the World Trade Center towers, the top ablazing into red flame.

"SHIT!" a soldier screamed as the top suddenly toppled down, causing the rest of the building to tip over sideways, leaving a large cloud of dust to float about. Major Howard squatted down, raising his rifle as he fired rounds off at the bridge. He turned, glaring at Dodger. "Start shooting Tobacco! They're coming across the bridge!"

A radioman ran up, squatting down beside Major Howard as he picked up the radio end, screaming into it that they needed air support immediately to bomb the bridge to prevent further enemy fighters from making their way across. Dodger looked about, noticing Rita, Francis, Tito, Einstein and Fagin standing there, watching him.

"Get out of here!" Dodger screamed as the ground suddenly exploded feet in frontz away from them, showering dirt and grass across the area. "This is not safe! Get out of here!" Dodger screamed. He felt the ground vibrate as he looked out into the city and noticed the mushroom cloud of what had obviously originated from a nuclear weapon appear. Dodger screamed as the blast then tore through the rest of the city, causing all the buildings to collapse as it suddenly hit where they all stood.

Dodger gasped as he opened his eyes, jolting upright. He looked around the dark boat, finding himself soaked in his own sweat. Everybody lay silent in their beds, sound asleep. He wiped the sweat off his face. He knew he had experienced a night terror. This hadn't been the first time that had happened, especially with all the talk of a possible employment coming up any of these days.

He lay down on his side, lying there for what felt like hours. He glanced over at his alarm clock, discovering it had only been 2:19 AM. Dodger knew he couldn't possibly go back to sleep now after that experience. He stood up, heart pounding as he walked over to where Rita slept, rouletting in his brain whether he would do it, or if he should just turn himself around and go back to his bed.

"Rita," he whispered, gently shaking her. She moaned as she opened her eyes and looked up at him. "Is it alright if I sleep here? I can't sleep," he said.

She yawned. "Yeah sure, crawl in," she muttered. Dodger smiled as he walked over, lifting the blanket up as he crawled in next to her. He closed his eyes, feeling his mind at ease now from the dream as he slowly drifted off into sleep. Rita glanced at him, smiled and then rested her head back down and went to sleep.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Tito walked out of bed as he walked over to Francis as he sat watching television as he always seemed to do. Tito walked over, sitting down beside him. "Hey Francis," Tito muttered, exhausted as he proceeded to yawn. "Hey Tito," Francis responded.

"Hey, um… Is Dodger alright?" Tito asked. "He has seemed pretty frustrated lately." "Yeah," Einstein responded. "He and Rita have just seemed to have been arguing a good bit lately."

Rita walked out. Tito and Francis both turned, noticing her there. "Morning," they both muttered. "Morning," he responded. She walked over, getting a cup of coffee and sat down. "Hey is Dodger alright?" Tito asked. She shrugged.

"I don't know, he has just been such a jerk lately. I think that he has just been fighting this cocky attitude he has been having, and I think it has just turned him into something else."

She took a breath. "He told me two weeks ago that he would stop being this way. I didn't put my full hope into it though, knowing the way he is. But, I did have some hope for him, but you wouldn't believe what he is doing now."

"What?" Einstein asked.

"He is acting like he is at the top and has even started acting like everybody is below him. He even said some bad things about each of us."

"What did he say about me?" Tito asked. "I'm not so sure it is my place to say," Rita said. "Oh come on, you can trust me," he responded. "Alright, he said he thought you were too rambunctious." Tito frowned.

"What about me?" Francis asked. "He said you were too sidetracked and sensitive because of your reaction if people call you Frankie or Frank."

"What about Fagin?" Tito asked.

"Hopeless."

"Einstein?"

"Clueless."

"Well, what about you?" Tito asked.

Rita sighed. "Okay, well we're all family here," she quietly muttered. "On this night a couple of weeks ago, Dodger and I were sitting on the dock together and we happened to kiss…" She paused, waiting for a major reaction from them, but they all sat quietly, taking the news pretty well.

"Well, he told me that he only kissed me because he found me attractive and that's it."

"Geez," Tito said. "When he walks in here, I'll beat him up Rita," Tito said. "Beat him to a bloody pulp." "No, Tito don't. When he comes home tonight, we'll confront him and tell him what is going to happen if he keeps doing this."

"Do you think he still cares about all of us?" Francis asked.

"Of course he does. I think he is so tough about bringing money home because he cares about us." "Well, when Dodger gets here, we will sit him down, and we will address this whole situation personally," said Francis.

Dodger walked down the steps into the main area of the boat and noticed the gang had been sitting there waiting for him. "Dodger, please sit down," Rita said. "What's going on here?" he asked. "We heard about all the things you have been saying Ddoger," Tito barked. "Like what?" Dodger asked.

"Like that you kissed Rita only because you thought she was pretty, that I am reinbunctous, Fagin is hopeless, Francis is sidetracked and sensitive and Einstein is clueless!" Tito yelled.

"Can I talk?" Dodger asked. "NO!" They all yelled. "Do you even like us Dodger?" Einstein asked. "Because if you don't you'd better just admit it now!" "Yes!" Dodger gasped. "Yes, I love all you guys, you all know that. You all are what I live for."

"Then why would you say all those things?" asked Tito.

Dodger leaned back against a wall, closing his eyes as he took in a deep breath. "Because, I was mad at myself…" "Oh, okay," Tito sarcastically said. "He was mad at himself so we all deserve to be insulted."

"STOP. Please just listen to me. I was mad at myself for being so cocky, and Rita when you were telling me the way I was acting, I secretly realized that you were right and I knew that I had problems and I didn't want to feel alone. So, I made it sound like everybody in the group had problems. Now I realize that nobody is perfect, so of course everybody has some issues.

'Tito, do I feel that you might be a little reunbunctous sometimes, not to hurt your feelings but yes. Francis, can you be very sensitive at times and get sidetracked easily? Yes. Fagin, can I sometimes think you might be a little hopless at trying to take care of the group? Yes.

'But hey, look at me. I am not saying any of this as an insult towards anybody. I just think that I was so angry and foolish that I kept on concentrating on everybody else's ups and downs instead of my own."

"Like all those tall tales you used to make up about yourself?" Tito asked.

"Exactly!" Dodger said. "Just like with me and my tall tales. Not to mention my cockiness. Dang, now I feel bad because I am realizing all the mistakes I have made, I don't know who I thought I was to insult you all on your errors. I'm sorry gang, I shouldn't have been picking on the only ones in the world who really, truly care about me."

The gang sat in silence for a moment, none of them knowing what to say next. Rita eventually broke the silence.

"Dodger," she said. "This is something that we have all discussed as a group and have agreed on."

"What?" Dodger asked, afraid of what it might be.

"Just to clear things up, Fagin got the job," Francis said. "Really?" Dodger shouted excitedly. "Wow, this is great. Now we will be making two times the money and…"

"That's what we were going to get to, you didn't let me finish," Rita said. "Dodger, we're…" She closed her eyes to take a deep breath, unable to bring the words to her lips. "It's okay, I've got it," Francis said. "Dodger, if you keep acting like this, we will exclude you from the gang."

"What?!" Dodger screamed. "Dodger, we all love you, but if you continue to act this way, we feel that we have no other choice," Rita said.

"But… we're family," Dodger said. "We didn't say you wouldn't be a part of our family," Einstein said. "Dodger, before you joined the military, we all had to rely on eachother for one of us one day to be specifically picked to get the food. It is still a little like that now," Rita said. "Only here's how everything goes.

'We collect any food, you don't get any. It belongs to us. Any food Fagin gets, goes towards us."

"Dodger, be fortunate you even got into the military," Fagin said. "I haven't told anyone but I went into the same recruiting office as you last week to try to enlist in the Army, and I didn't pass the medical exam."

"Dodger, not trying to scare you man, but you don't know if you will be in the Army much longer. What if you get sent somewhere and get shot? Then you will be out of the military and back to your old self," Tito said.

Dodger sat back in shock.

"Well, is there anything I can do to stop this?" he asked. "Yeah, quit the attitude," Francis said. Dodger looked around at all their facial expressions. He knew they were serious. "Well I…" he stuttered. "I'm…I'm…" He suddenly turned around and ran up the steps.

Hours passed. Everybody did their casual routine as they got ready for bed without saying a single word, Dodger on everybody's minds. Rita had looked outside and discovered it had been dark for a while. "Where do you think Dodger is?" Rita asked. "Probably sitting out on the docks where he is every night," Francis responded.

Rita sighed. "I'm going to go talk to him," she said. "No," Francis responded. "I've got it." "You sure?" Rita asked. "Positive," he said.

Francis walked out onto the docks, the freezing winter New York City wind striking him like a bullet. He spotted Dodger sitting at the end of the dock, feet hanging over the side as he sat, looking down into the water. "Dodger," he called out. "Come on bud, it's cold out here." Dodger didn't respond as he just continued to sit silently.

"Hey, you don't have a cigar with you," Francis called out as he walked over to him. Dodger continued to ignore him as he sat in silence.

"Okay look!" Francis said angrily. "Just because you're mad doesn't mean you have to be a…." "I told you I am not mad at you," Dodger suddenly muttered, looking slightly over his shoulder. They sat in silence for a moment. "I'm mad at myself," Dodger muttered, taking a deep breath to calm himself from anger.

Dodger cursed. "I mean, you all are all I've got and I treat you all so terribly," he said as he put his paws up to his forehead. He sat for a moment and put his paws back down. "My exclusion. I deserve it. Every bit of it." Francis knew that he couldn't argue with that.

Francis stared at Dodger for a moment, and excluding what had occurred earlier, he hated seeing his friend like that.

"Well, I am going to go back in the boat. It would make me feel a lot better if you came with me." Dodger sat, contemplating the idea in his mind before he stood up and walked over to Francis. "Come on," Francis said, wrapping his arm around Dodger. "It's too cold out here."

Three days passed. Dodger treated everybody how they should have been treated, not to be a suck up, but to show that he truly felt sorry for his actions. He would go to work as always, and when he came home, regardless if his day had been outstanding or terrible, he came home in a fabulous mood and was always happy to see everybody. He even spent his money on take out restaurant food just to surprise everyone.

Everyone had certainly noticed his change in behavior and talked about it. Francis thought that Dodger's sudden change in behavior was just Dodger's way to try and get everybody to like him again, but other members knew how much he cared about them and knew that he was doing it all out of the bottom of his heart.

Until the third night. This was the night that would change everybody's life forever.

It started out as any ordinary day. Dodger would get up early for work, the gang would wake up about an hour or two later, and everybody would go about their day. Timmy everyday would stand outside, staring over at the New York skyline, begging if someday they could go visit some of New York's biggest tourist attractions. He begged to go visit the Empire State Building, the World Trade Center, Rockefeller Centre, and the Statue of Liberty. Rita promised Timmy that they would get him to those places one day, they just didn't know when. Dodger returned home later that day, and same as he had done for the past three days, had food with him for the gang that night. He had a pizza box that had imprinted on it, "Best in New York," as all the pizza places in New York said.

Dodger lay deep asleep in the middle of the quiet, silent night. A noise suddenly erupted, disturbing his sleep. He shook it off and convinced himself that he was dreaming as he closed his eyes and tried to go back asleep, but the sound continued. He realized that the sound was real and not his imagination. He opened his eyes again and saw that the phone in the corner of the room was ringing, something they didn't have happen much. He then slowly got out of bed and answered it.

"Hello?" he said in a tired tone. "Is that you Dodger?" the voice on the other end asked. "Yes," Dodger responded. "It's Major Howard," the voice on the other end said. "Oh, hey sir how you doing?" Dodger asked as he rubbed his eyes. "Alright. Dodger, we need you here at the base right now, uniform on and everything, and hurry." Howard hung up, not even giving Dodger the chance to ask what was going on.

Dodger ran over to a small wardrobe where he kept his uniforms. He threw on his battle dress uniform and then put his black combat boots on. Everybody was awake now and was watching him. "Dodger," Rita said. "What are you doing?" "They just called me to the base. I…I…" he stuttered. "I might be getting deployed." That got everybody's attention.

"Do you know for sure?" Tito asked. "They didn't say anything specifically where I might be going. My commanding officer called and just told me to get down to the base and quickly." Dodger threw his Kevlar vest on and snapped it. He snapped his gun belt on across his waist and then put on his helmet. Everybody there had seen Dodger dressed this way for training exercises, but they never imagined they would watch him get dressed for war.

Dodger stood there trying to calm himself down. "I… I need to get to the subway station." He grabbed his green military bag containing all his personal supplies he would need in the case of a deployment. "I don't think I can go alone. Will you all come with me?" "Of course we will," responded Rita. Everybody got up out of their beds to go with Dodger, not because they felt like they were being forced to, but because they all cared about Dodger.

"It is pretty cold out there. You all need to bring coats," Dodger said. He let everybody put coats on and then they left the boat and got up on the dock. Dodger paused for a second and looked at his boat home. _Could this be the last time I see my home?_ he asked himself. He then continued on. Rita looked over at him as they walked.

"Dodge," she said. "Are you okay?" "Yeah," he responded. "I think so."

"My train shouldn't be here but a couple more minutes," Dodger said. The gang sat on two different benches. "Should we pray?" Timmy asked. "Yeah, let's pray," Rita said. "Okay, everybody get in a circle," Dodger said. Dodger, Rita, Timmy, and Francis sat on a bench together and Einstein, and Tito came over and squatted around their bench, making their line of three as round as they could.

"Who wants to pray?" Timmy asked. "I will," Rita said. They all bowed their heads and closed their eyes. "Dear God," she prayed. "As Dodger leaves tonight we all pray that you will please watch over him and protect him. Since we cant go with him wherever he is going, we know that You will be with him and please protect him every step of the way. Please keep him safe from our country's enemies and please, please bring him back home to us Father. Amen."

"Amen," they all said as they stood up. "Hey Rita," Dodger said. "Can I please talk to you privately?" "Yeah, of course," she said. Dodger took his helmet off and walked with Rita behind the stairs leading into the underground station so they could talk in private. Dodger glanced at a watch on his wrist.

"Subway will be here in five minutes," Dodger said. "That's all we've got. Rita, I…" He stuttered, trying to find his words. "I…I have… I have been beating myself up over the past few days because of all the things I had said to you guys, and I keep feeling like you guys won't forgive me, and I am nervous about this deployment because of the thought of if I don't come back. I feel like you guys might hate me, but I fell that the only reason I really want to return home alive is so I can renew myself…" Rita pulled Dodger over to her and pressed her lips against his.

"Dodger," she said. "We have all forgiven you. The biggest question is whether you can forgive yourself."

"You know that I care about every one of you," Dodger said. "I know you do, and we all care about you too," Rita replied. "We were worried if anything, about you and we really did not want to see this behavior take control of you." "Rita, when I come back, there will be an entirely different me. I won't brag and make myself look like I am above you all anymore. I will make my whole life revoke around you all. All the places Timmy wants to go, I'll take us there."

Dodger looked back down at his watch. He had one-minute left. He could even hear the subway approaching in the distance. "Rita, I don't think I can go," he said. "Dodger, do what you feel in your heart is right. Go defend the country. Go defend us." Dodger kissed Rita again. "Go do what you know is right," she said.

The subway pulled into the station. They walked back around where Dodger put his helmet on and picked up his bag, slinging it over his shoulder. "Wait," Rita said. "Fagin, get a picture of me and Dodger before he leaves." She got next to Dodger and they bolt smiled for the picture, even though they were both faking it since they both weren't very happy. "Everybody get in," Rita said. They all then piled in as Fagin took the picture.

The subway doors opened. Dodger turned around to step in but then stopped. He turned around and said, "I love you all." "We love you too," they all responded. Dodger then stepped into the train as the doors closed behind him. He watched them all through the window. He picked up his right paw and waved. They all waved back as the train started to slowly move forward.

Dodger set his bag down and sat down in a seat, putting his head in his paws. And just like that, he was gone.

Everyone in Dodger's company was dressed for war. The whole company had their vests and helmets on with rucksacks full. Dodger looked around and would ask any random soldier if they knew what was going on, but they would all give him the same answer, "We're being deployed." Major Howard was nowhere to be seen, probably discussing with the Colonel the situation at hand. A siren on a telephone police suddenly came to life and everybody was ordered to report to the barracks. Everybody then began making their way to the barracks areas.

There was absolutely no communication with the outside world. The phones were shut off and the company was locked in the barrack areas. The Army was trying to make sure that absolutely no word got to the outside world. If somebody told anyone, even their own wife, word can suddenly spread like wildfire all over the place, and nobody wanted to take the chance of some of the country's enemies finding anything out.

Major Howard eventually entered the barracks area. "What is going on sir?" the First Sergeant asked.

"Manuel Noriega, president of Panama, has been committing drug crimes for a while now. He has had loads of cocaine smuggled into our country for a while, so we have been ordered to deploy to Panama and stop him. Tonight, we will fly down to Fort Bragg, North Carolina to unite with some other 82nd soldiers, and from there we will hit Panama. Before we leave, everyone will go to the arsenal and get your rifle. We will quickly load our magazines, get our gear in check, and then we will be on our way. Hooah?" "Hooah," Alpha Company responded. "Then let's get to it," Major Howard said.

The company lined up outside the supply room so they could quickly go in, get their rifle and ammunition, and then let the next person go. Dodger stepped in as a young private asked Dodger which number his rifle was. "Forty-seven," Dodger said. The private picked up rifle 47, which was an M16, and handed it to Dodger. Dodger grabbed the number of boxes of ammunition he needed to load his magazines and then got out.

The company also grabbed maps, first-aid kits, grenades, magazines, everything they would need when they arrived in Panama.

Hours passed. Alpha Company was just waiting around now for the green light to flu out. Dodger even dozed off in one of the room's corners and suddenly awoke and glanced at his watch. 2:18, it said pm the small screen. Dodger closed his eyes to drift off again but was suddenly shaken by the First Sergeant. "It's time to go," the First Sergeant said. Dodger stood up, grabbed his rucksack sitting next to him, and followed the First Sergeant out.

A line awaited outside the huge C-130. The back was opened and the soldiers walked up the incline to enter the aircraft. Dodger soon got on board. Seats had been set up for the troops and Dodger got to have a window seat. Howard stepped onto the plane and performed a rollcall and everyone would reply with, "Here sir," after their name had been called. Major Howard told the pilots everyone was present and they could leave. The back of the plane closed and the planed moved onto the runway.

Dodger couldn't stop staring out the window. Soon the plane turned and the speed of the aircraft increased enormously and soon slowly lifted off the ground. The plane flew straight and then turned and Dodger could see New York City far below him. He looked out at the Empire State Building, Central Park, and as they flew over lower Manhattan Dodger could see the towers of the World Trade Center towering over all of New York and the Statue of Liberty. Even though most of the city lay asleep, the huge infrastructures always seemed to be lighten up. But, below him in Lower Manhattan, was his family.

Dodger looked down, looking for his boat in the docks but it was impossible to see because of 1). The darkness and 2). How small it was compared to how high up he was. Dodger took one good last look at the city, wondering if he could ever see it again. Dodger closed his eyes and sent up a quick prayer that the Lord would bring him back home. After his prayer, Dodger realized that if there was any time to sleep that it would be now because who knew how much sleep he would be able to get in the next few days. He snapped his helmet off, placed his head against the wall, and slowly closed his eyes. They would be to North Carolina soon to meet up with other soldiers from the 82nd, and from there: Panama.


End file.
